The Hero of Iron vs The King of Knights
by Unknown-nin345
Summary: In a utopia that shouldn't exist, a king that discarded their dream and humanity shall be confronted by an orphan who seeks to bring the wayward king back to the dream they had sought. One-shot.


****Lion-King versus Iron-wrought Hero****

 ** **Summary: Inspired by a YouTube clip I found that had a Fate Grand Order comic with some dubs done by YouTuber Sippy VA. I wanted to flesh it out a bit more and perhaps jump the GAR level up some, if that's possible.****

 ** **Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Fate Universe and it's many affiliated shows. Nor do I own the cover image for this story, that belongs to the talented artist who drew the comic/manga that I gained the inspiration for this story from.****

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It truly was a utopia.

There was no poverty, hunger, or war, but that just made it seem even more wrong. A falseness could be felt by the travelers out of time, one that left each of them with a sense of uneasiness that couldn't be quite explained. They all advanced with a wary hesitance, even as hordes of faceless knights rushed forward to stop them.

Swords, spears, arrows, and magic were brushed aside by the trio of Heroic Spirits, warriors who stood above others and embodied pinnacles of skill.

Fujimaru Ritsuka, the Last Master of Chaldea, looked them over as he occasionally let loose his own blasts of elemental-based magic.

Standing at the front and leading the charge was the Saber of the group, the so-called 'Knight of Treachery' Mordred. Her golden blonde hair stood out just as sharply as her gleaming white and red armor did, the crackling crimson lightning dancing about her body just enhancing that effect as she darted between each foe. She had been one of the first to answer his summons when the mission to this utopia had been announced, the prospect of facing her 'father' again too great for her to resist.

"Come on you posers!" The blonde knight shouted loudly as another swing of her sword sent the minions flying. "Real knights of Camelot are nowhere near as weak as you all! Let me face your "King" and show him just how wrong this place is!"

A pair of archers about to attack her with arrows glowing with magical power are quickly consumed in fire as glowing runes appear in the air around them.

"C'mon now missy! Try to keep your guard up, I can't be looking out for you all the time!" A tall man with deep blue hair shouts as he twirls his flaming staff around his body to bash minions foolish enough to rush in close. This was the Caster, Cú Chulainn, and while he might have preferred operating in the role of a Lancer his skills with his runic magic could not be denied. He had been the second to respond to Ritsuka's summoning, ever eager for a battle no matter what his role was.

"Shut up! I don't need to hear that from you of all people Caster!" Mordred shouted back as she kicked a lance-wielding minion, sending it flying away at mach speeds.

Cu sighed as he blocked a slash from a sword-wielding knight and blasted it away with several runes. "Mattaku, no matter what Sabers are always such a pain in the ass. Right Archer?" he asked of the white-haired, red-and-black clad bowman standing next to him firing swords of all things from a huge black bow like common arrows.

The white haired man spared him a glance before returning his attention back to the battle and launched a gleaming silver blade at speeds that broke the sound barrier to pierce through the bodies of half a dozen minions. "Don't look at me. I think this one might just be special," he remarked as he knocked another blade and sent it flying.

This Archer was rather unique in that he wasn't a traditional Heroic Spirit, but a Counter Guardian that was still allowed to be summoned as one. In life he had been know by the name Emiya Shirou, but had cast aside this name after his death as he service to the World Spirit as its Guardian began. He had been the third to arrive with the summons with an intense expression on his face, one even more serious than usual, once the details of the mission had been revealed.

At the front of the group, Mordred growled in anger again as he keen ears caught the red bowman's words. Any remark she might have made was stopped by the appearance of several shadow-y figures whose silhouettes were very familiar to her. "Damnit, Caster get up here and snare these guys!" she shouted as she started clashing blades with them.

Cu sighed as he jumped forward, "Fine, fine. Archer, you better keep Master safe, ya hear?" With a low grunt, he jumped and sped forward to the group of swordsmen, runes flashing into existence as he prepared to lend his aid.

"That goes without saying," Emiya muttered to himself as he fell back a little to better keep Ritsuka in his field of vision.

Ritsuka observed this all as he kept up his own attacks, doing his best to pace himself and not over-exert his magical circuits. As he watched his Servants hold their own in this hectic fight, the young teen frowned as something began tickling his senses. "Archer…do you feel something?" he asked as he moved closer to the bow-wielder.

Emiya frowned as he felt out the surrounding area, looking with both his eyes and his magic to locate anything out of the ordinary. At first, nothing seemed strange about the field of battle, although he did not it had gotten brighter for some….

The red-clad bowman froze as his eyes widened in shock as his senses were overwhelmed by a power that was both familiar and foreign as it washed over him. His head snapped skyward and his eyes immediately spotted the bright light falling down from the heavens on a direct path to crash where the battle was occurring. Emiya immediately dropped his bow, letting it disperse into motes of prana as he threw out a hand, clutching the mid-point of his arm with the other one as he delved into his world of blades for the one thing that could defend.

"Master! I need some command seals!" the Archer servant urgently said as the light drew closer. Luckily Ritsuka easily spotted the incoming danger and placed a hand against Emiya's back as two of the red symbols glowed bright with an added boost of prana from young Master. The white-haired warrior felt his back straighten unconsciously as the first line of his aria was spoken, one that brought the world of his soul to the world in which he stood, _"_ ** _ _ **I AM THE BONE OF MY SWORD."**__**

A violet shield, beautiful as a blooming flower, emerged into being as the world vanished in bright searing light. The world shook, and structures crumbled as an unfathomable power crashed down with all the fury of a sun.

Emiya grit his teeth as even with the power of two Command Seals, his shield buckled and struggled to withstand the might of this attack. But Rho Aias was mighty and it held even if some of it shattered. Even though his body bled and his muscles screamed, Emiya held his ground to protect his Master. The warrior in red and black didn't even blink as blood began to drip down in his eyes.

Finally the attack faded away and only smoke remained on the battlefield as the shield of the great Hero Aias stood tall. As Archer slowly let his shield fade away, the cultured, regal voice of a woman echoed out from the smoke.

"Oh? You've done well to withstand my attack… red bowman."

The woman who walked out of the smoke was beautiful beyond imagining, but her beauty was like a cold winter landscape. She was enchanting to look at but there was no warmth to be found in her despite her bright golden hair and the shining lance at her side. Even her eyes were a dull shade of color as they stared listlessly at the two standing before her.

Emiya's gaze was focused in a way that was unexpected of the usually silent bowman as he pushed his Master back a ways. This woman was not the one that resided in the brief pockets of his memories that lingered from his time among the living. The one standing before him had forsaken her dream, her desire to fight for the common person to simply create a utopia where struggle and desire did not exist.

The Servant of the Bow felt his hands unconsciously clench into fists as blood continued to slowly drip down his body while he answered this false face before him. "Naturally. I'm not ready to lose to you. Besides…" his voice trailed off as memories he had long forsaken began to return, fighting for dominance against this sight before him.

"This is personal."

The King of this utopia tilted her head slightly as she regarded him with a vague disinterest similar to how one looked at an ant crawling through the dirt. "You say that, yet I am unable to recall one such as you," she commented as her lance lightly tapped the stone beneath her feet. This lance was more than a simple weapon, it carried the weight of the connection between two worlds and this weight could be seen in the posture of this false King, as if nothing else could exist in the arms of the one who wielded it.

"You're right," Emiya admitted in a hard tone. The memories were growing stronger and he could feel his knuckles popping from how hard his hands were clenched into fists. "But…"

 _ _The warmth of a genuine smile.__ Archer felt his eyes widen as a memory that was not his filtered in. __The ray of sunshine creating a halo around her golden blond hair as she looked at him in a way no one else ever had. The vow between a sword and its sheath.__ Emiya felt something burning in his chest and his magic circuits practically vibrated as power surged through his body, the last remnant of the Command Seal power and prana from his Master flowing through his body as he traveled back to his hill of swords, searching for the one that would normally have spelled his immediate end in a normal Holy Grail War. But nothing about this moment was normal.

 ** _ _ **STEEL IS MY BODY AND FIRE IS MY BLOOD**__**

"Something inside me," the red clad bowman growled as tribal-like circuit patterns of energy formed on his body, glowing as golden as a sun. A blade began to form, lines forming in mid-air as motes of light began to rise up from the ground.

Arturia, King of her Utopia, watched with distant eyes though her hand gripping the lance clenched __just a bit__ tighter.

From his position behind his servant, Ritsuka could only watch in awe as he an indescribable feeling of hope and happiness began to well up inside him. He knew, right now, that he was about to witness something amazing.

The pommel and hilt were made, giving Emiya something to grasp as more and more of the blade was pulled out of the hill in his soul. Light continued to gather as dozens and then hundreds of little golden orbs of pure light began to float and dance in the air, each containing a wish, a hope, a prayer, a promise. Steel crafted by hands not human began to form, making a blade that shone with a light not matched even by the lance meant to hold together two halves of the world.

The light of this blade should have been painful, should have hurt the eyes to look upon it like that given off by the lance of the false King. But this was warm and welcoming like the morning sun. A lake of gold, light given form came into being around Archers body as he slowly stood straight and tall like the proudest of warriors. This sword had been made by those not human, but it was made specifically for Men, with all their hopes and desires to bring about their dreams and fantasies and give them shape.

And now, it would return to one the dream they had discarded.

"IS TELLING ME TO STOP YOU!"

With the roar from the bowman clad in red and black, his white hair waving wildly in the breeze generated by the power of the blade, the blade was formed. As he stood there with his clothes and hair whipping about in the wind, faintly the image of another man could be seen: one with lighter skin and hair a deep ruddy auburn. A sword of beauty and of war rested in his palms, meant to bear forth the promise of glory and victory to those who wished for it. The glittering golden orbs began to collect and float into the blade held in Archer's hands, filling it with a light more pure than the sun itself.

The two stood there on opposite sides: the indomitable King who had forsaken humanity to create her perfect kingdom, and the lonely Orphan was willing to risk anything to bring back one he had stood beside through conflicts unimaginable.

As he lifted the sword high above his head Arch…no, Emiya Shirou stared into the eyes of the woman he had fought alongside once and felt a determination like no other fill his soul as his golden-brown eyes shown with the light of the power he had amassed. "Here I come, King of Knights… are you ready to recall the dream you have forgotten?"

Arturia did not answer, merely shifted her stance into one ready for battle to meet the strength of the foe before her.

Emiya Shirou took a single step forward, bringing down the blade of the King he had served beside with all his might as he cried out to the heavens.

 **"** ** **EX!"****

A single step was all he needed, just one. It was the same as when he was alive and rushing headlong into a battle he knew little about and was extremely unprepared for. Just to fight by her side.

 **"CALIBUR!"**

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 ** **Unknown-nin345: Well, I hope you all enjoyed this and that you all think I might have jumped up the Gar level of this scene by a couple notches.****


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